Magic: The Gathering has an almost overwhelming number of different rulesets you can play with, known as ‘formats’: Modern, Vintage, Legacy, Commander, Pauper, Pioneer, Oathbreaker, Historic, Tiny Leaders, Penny Dreadful, the list goes on and on, and knowing what cards you can play in what format can be tough. Fortunately, one MTG product answers that problem with an elegant solution: enter Jumpstart.
Jumpstart is one of the fastest ways to get into a game of MTG. The setup takes seconds, there’s no having to worry about building your deck, and every game can feel completely different. Here’s everything you need to know about Jumpstart.
What Is Jumpstart?
Jumpstart is both a format – a way of playing Magic: The Gathering – and a line of products. It debuted in 2020, with the original Jumpstart set achieving massive popularity for its original way of playing and ease of use. Since then, there have been multiple sets made specifically for Jumpstart, and it has even been adapted into a regular fixture of each major release.
The idea of Jumpstart is simple: each Jumpstart booster pack has 20 cards, including lands. Each pack is based on a specific theme, such as Goblins, Angels, and Vampires, or more abstract ideas like “Well-Read” and “Gross”. By opening and shuffling two of these packs together, you’ve got a ready-made 40-card deck that you can play with straight away.
This means Jumpstart is a limited format, like draft or sealed, but has a much quicker set-up time, and doesn’t overwhelm you with choices before you’ve even started playing.
How To Play Jumpstart
As mentioned, Jumpstart is incredibly simple to set up, all you need is:
- A way to track each player’s life, like a 20-sided dice, a notepad, or an app on a phone.
- At least two players. Jumpstart is designed for one-on-one play, however it can be stretched to three or four with some adjustments.
- Two Jumpstart booster packs per player. For the best experience, these packs should all be from the same set, such as Jumpstart, Jumpstart 2022, or Jumpstart boosters for sets like Dominaria United, The Brothers War, and Phyrexia: All Will Be One. However, you can mix-and-match packs as well, if you want a particularly more chaotic experience.
Unlike draft and sealed, you do not need any spare land cards. Every land you need is already in the boosters, and will be enough for your deck to function.
Each player takes two Jumpstart booster packs, and opens both. Remove the explainer card inside the packs that explains what the theme is, and then shuffle the remaining cards together into a single, 40-card deck. And that’s it, your deck is now ready to play.
When playing one-on-one, you and your opponent start with the regular life total of 20. If you’ve got more than two players, you may want to scale the life total, as more damage will be flying around the table. Starting at anywhere from 25 to 30 is a good idea.
Officially, Jumpstart is only a one-on-one format. Expanding to more players isn't officially supported, and you may find games either drag on longer or end quicker than you like if you add more people to your table.
Once you’re all set up, and have decided who goes first, the game now proceeds the same as any other game of Magic: The Gathering would. Draw seven cards, try and get your opponent’s life total to zero, or try and win using an alternate win condition like milling or poison.
How To Play Jumpstart Digitally
Jumpstart is not available on Magic Online, or in Magic: The Gathering Arena. However, Arena has its own version of the concept, with Jump In!.
Jump In! can be accessed in the Events tab of Arena, under Limited. Each deck you make will cost either 1,000 gold or 200 gems, however you can repay this at any time to roll a new deck, and will still keep all the cards you previously acquired.
The key difference between Jump In! and Jumpstart is that Jump In! is based on the digital-only Alchemy format, whereas Jumpstart uses specific sets. This means you can encounter digital-only mechanics like boons, perpetuity, and conjuring in Jump In!.
Jump In! also allows you greater control over the packs you pick. Instead of just opening two packs and shuffling them together, you are given two sets of three themes to choose from. As a result, you can more easily make synergistic decks in Jump In! by ensuring you’re matching colours, have themes that feel close to each other, or are playstyles you particularly enjoy.